USE OF TRACTORS

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 58, Issue 4103, 21 February 1949, Page 6

USE OF TRACTORS

question of safety WORK ALONG CONTOURS CATCHMENT BOARD’S INTEREST The question of the use of tractors on hilly country, in the light of both safety and the conservation of soil, was brought before the January meeting of the Hauraki Catchment Board iij a letter from the Soil Conservation, and Rivers Control Council. The letter was as follows:— “ Catchment boards, and others, should be interested in encouraging farmers and contractors to work ploughs, and other agricultural implements, along contours* wherever possible instead of the usual bad practice, from a soil conservation point of view, of up and down slopes. “ It has often been said that there are no tractors which can safely work attachments front or rear, on a side slope of up to 30 degrees. “ A table supplied by the “ caterpillar” tractor manufacturing company, giving the steepness of slopes for various sizes of tractors where three-quarters of the tractor weight was on the downhill track, and onequarter of the tractor weight is on the uphill track, in each case there is a fair margin of safety.” The table was as follows:—

Tractor Gauge Inches Degrees D8 78 35 D7 74 34 D7 60 29 D* 74 35 D6 56 28 R5 74 39 ‘ R5 56 31 D4 60 32 D4 44 25 R4 60 33 R4 44 26 D2 50 33 D2 40 28